Bears Fall Short; Tourney Hopes Ended

Feb 11, 2012

NORTON, Mass.--(2/11/12)--Senior Brendan Degnan led all scorers with 20 points as Wheaton beat Coast Guard 67-62 in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) game, ending the Bears chances of qualifying for the conference tournament.

Wheaton improves to 11-11 overall and 4-6 in the NEWMAC while Coast Guard drops to 8-13 overall and 2-9 in conference play.

The Lyons did most of their damage from three-point range, making 11 of 24. Wheaton was just six of 23 from the floor in the second half, making five of ten from behind the arc and just one of 13 from two-point range in the final 20 minutes.

Junior Greg Marshall led Coast Guard with 17 points while sophomore Kevin Sowers added 11 points and a game-high six assists in the loss. Junior Jimmy Knudsen had nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds for the Bears.

Coast Guard started out fast leading 13-3 with 12:41 left in the first half and led 21-13 with 7:03 left in the first half, but the Bears would make just three field goals the rest of the half as Wheaton outscored the Bears 22-9 over the final seven minutes of the first half and led 35-30 at the break.

Wheaton took its largest lead of the game at 40-32 with 17:44 left in the game before Coast Guard responded with a seven straight to pull to within 40-39 with 14:30 left.

The Lyons scored five straight to push the led back to six at 45-39 before the Bears went on a 9-0 run and led 48-45 following a pair of free throws by sophomore John Benedict with 9:13 left in the game.

Wheaton regained the lead 53-51 on a pair of free throws by freshman Eddie Capstick with 5:57 left. Sophomore Kevin Sowers tied the game with 53-53 on a hoop with 5:24 left before the Lyons took the lead for good 54-53 on a free throw by Weeks with 5:08 left.

Knudsen pulled the Bears to within 64-62 on a three-pointer with 21 seconds left, but Degnan made a pair of free throws with 19 seconds left to put the game away.

Wheaton was 20 for 55 from the floor (36 percent) while making 11 of 24 from three-point range while Coast Guard shot 39 percent from the field (24-61) and made five of 14 from 3-point range.

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